How excited are you about all the tattoo conventions coming up this year, all over the world?! The Amsterdam Tattoo Convention (May 30 – June 1, 2014) is always a fun international event, as if you needed another reason to visit Amsterdam! This is part one of a collection of photos from the 2012 convention to show the types of amazing artists and interesting people you can expect to see!
Photos by Vivian Wenli Lin
Here’s Mikael from House of Pain Tattoo (Stockholm) and a Las Vegas tattoo in progress:
Mikael from House of Pain Tattoo (Stockholm)
Mikael from House of Pain Tattoo (Stockholm) – Las Vegas tattoo in progress
Tiziano Ripanti from Tattoo Experience (Ancona, Italy) specializes in hyper-realistic black and grey portrait tattoos.
Tiziano Ripanti working on a black and grey backpiece
Tiziano Ripanti from Tattoo Experience (Ancona, Italy) at work
This black and grey backpiece is based on a black and white photo of this guy’s small hometown in Italy, Monte Ferrante, and shows his grandfather playing cards.
Close-up of a Tiziano Ripanti black and grey backpiece in progress
The big picture:
Tiziano Ripanti backpiece, partly fresh, partly healed
Every artist’s booth at the Amsterdam Tattoo Convention is invited to decorate a wooden show and enter it into a competition. Here’s Santos of Santos Tattoo (Gallarate, Italy) inking his Polynesian style entry!
Santos drawing a Polynesian-style design on a wooden shoe
Santos from Santos Tattoo – Gallarate, Italy
…and more Polynesian-style tattooers! Here’s the crew from Mana Tahiti Tatau, a fun and happy bunch as you can see! They have a shop in Salzburg, Austria and three locations in France: Toulon, Bordeaux, and Biscarrosse.
The crew from Mana Tahiti Tatau – Polynesian style in France and Austria!
Polynesian style from Mana Tahiti Tatau!
Here’s Shin from Easy Ink in Japan, excited to tour the American tattoo conventions next!
Shin from Easy Ink, Japan
Wim, a cute Dutch guy from the eastern Netherlands, couldn’t wait for Horigen from Yashink Tattoo Studio (Japan) to come to the Amsterdam expo so he could get inked in the traditional poking style and made his appointment months in advance. He wanted this style because the colors get in deeper, even though he knew it would hurt more!
Horigen at work – traditional Japanese poking tattoo
Horigen – Japanese tattoo in progress
Close-up of Horigen at work
One of my personal favorite discoveries at this show was Maxxxine from The Preacher’s Son tattoo studio in Amsterdam. She’s a cool lady and I loved her new school Amsterdam style!
Maxxxine from The Preacher’s Son (Amsterdam) at work
Maxxxine’s new school Amsterdam flash
And it’s not just tattoos, folks! Lots of inspiring street art, sculptures, and fine arts happening right before your eyes!
Tattooed pig painting in progress
Have a look at Part Two with more photos from the 2012 Amsterdam Tattoo Convention, and start making your plans for this year’s expo!
–Miss Psychobilly Bass